(JOSEPHUS ISCANUS: DARETIS PHRYGII ILIAS) Translated Into English Verse by AG Rigg
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JOSEPH OF EXETER: ILIAD (JOSEPHUS ISCANUS: DARETIS PHRYGII ILIAS) translated into English verse by A.G. Rigg © Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, 2005 CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY NOTES IV SYNOPSIS................................................................................................................................................................. IV SOURCES .................................................................................................................................................................. V THE POET AND THE DATE OF THE YLIAS ................................................................................................................ VIII EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS................................................................................................................................. IX SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................................................ XI BOOK I 1 THE DEPARTURE OF THE ARGONAUTS FOR THE ISLE OF COLCHIS .................................................................................3 THE WAR BETWEEN HERCULES AND THE TROJANS......................................................................................................13 THE DEATH OF LAOMEDON .......................................................................................................................................16 THE RETURN OF PRIAM FROM EASTERN PHRYGIA.......................................................................................................18 DESCRIPTION OF TROY .............................................................................................................................................18 BOOK II 22 THE MARRIAGE OF HESIONE AND TELAMON...............................................................................................................24 THE BEAUTY CONTEST ...............................................................................................................................................29 JUNO’S SPEECH ........................................................................................................................................................30 MINERVA’S SPEECH ..................................................................................................................................................33 VENUS’ SPEECH........................................................................................................................................................39 BOOK III 45 THE PROPHECY OF HELENUS ....................................................................................................................................46 THE PROPHECY OF PANTHUS ....................................................................................................................................48 THE DEPARTURE OF PARIS TO RAVISH HELEN ............................................................................................................50 THE RAPE OF HELEN.................................................................................................................................................54 THE RETURN OF PARIS ..............................................................................................................................................56 THE PROPHECY OF CASSANDRA.................................................................................................................................57 PREPARATION OF THE GREEKS FOR WAR....................................................................................................................59 THE SINKING OF CASTOR AND POLLUX ......................................................................................................................60 BOOK IV 62 DESCRIPTION OF THE LEADERS .................................................................................................................................63 THE GREEK EXPEDITION ...........................................................................................................................................71 THE ORACLE OF PHOEBUS ON THE ATTAINMENT OF VICTORY......................................................................................72 HOW ACHILLES CONQUERED MYSIA AND KILLED TEUTHRAS.......................................................................................76 DESCRIPTION OF TEUTHRAS’ TOMB ...........................................................................................................................80 BOOK V 83 BEGINNING OF THE WAR............................................................................................................................................88 THE DEATH OF PROTESILAUS ....................................................................................................................................89 THE DEATH OF PATROCLUS.......................................................................................................................................92 THE DEATH OF MERION ............................................................................................................................................92 THE DISPUTE OVER THE CHANGE OF COMMAND .........................................................................................................93 THE FIGHT BETWEEN PARIS AND MENELAUS ..............................................................................................................95 THE DEATH OF HECTOR ..........................................................................................................................................101 BOOK VI 104 THE CHANGE OF COMMAND ....................................................................................................................................105 THE DEATHS OF DEIPHEBUS, SARPEDON AND PALAMEDES.......................................................................................108 ii THE DEATH OF TROILUS..........................................................................................................................................114 THE DEATH OF MEMNON ........................................................................................................................................116 THE GATHERING OF BIRDS AT MEMNON’S TOMB.......................................................................................................118 HOW ACHILLES, TOGETHER WITH NESTOR’S SON ANTILOCHUS, WAS BETRAYED AND KILLED......................................119 HOW PARIS AND AJAX KILLED EACH OTHER .............................................................................................................122 THE DEATH OF PENTHESILEA ..................................................................................................................................127 THE BETRAYAL AND OVERTHROW OF THE CITY..........................................................................................................128 THE DEATH OF PRIAM .............................................................................................................................................133 HECUBA’S LAMENT .................................................................................................................................................135 THE DIVISION OF THE SPOILS...................................................................................................................................136 THE RETURN OF THE GREEKS AFTER THE FALL OF TROY...........................................................................................138 EPILOGUE .........................................................................................................................................................140 APPENDICES 142 APPENDIX A: CORRESPONDENCES BETWEEN JOSEPH’S YLIAS AND ITS SOURCES .................................................142 DARES AND DICTYS...............................................................................................................................................142 APPENDIX B: DE EXCIDIO TROIAE HISTORIA........................................................................................................143 APPENDIX C: EXCERPTS FROM DICTYS CRETENSIS: EPHEMERIDOS BELLI TROIANI ............................................170 iii INTRODUCTORY NOTES Joseph of Exeter’s six-book hexameter epic on the fall of Troy was completed in 1190, and was dedicated to Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury. It is one of most literary Latin epics of the Middle Ages, surpassing even Walter of Chatillon’s Alexendreis (a curriculum text) in its dense poetic style, its inventio of episodes and characters, and its overall structure and plan. It has received one full prose translation into English (Roberts 1970) and one partial one (Bate 1986); the present verse translation attempts to reproduce something of the feel of the original. The following pages give an account of the poem and its genesis; for fuller studies, see the works cited. Synopsis Book I. Prologue: an eye-witness account is a better source than Homer or Virgil; the poem is dedicated to Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury. Story: en route to find the Golden Fleece, Jason and the Argonauts put in at Troy but are rebuffed by the Trojan king Laomedon. On their return to Greece, Hercules broods over the insult and leads an expedition to punish Troy. Laomedon is killed and his daughter Hesione is